Let's Play A Game
by morelikepeterdamn
Summary: When a girl shows up on Neverland, everyone is confused. How did she get there? Why can't she remember? And why has Peter Pan suddenly taken an interest in her? His plan had been perfect before she came along, but that doesn't necessarily mean he can't use her to his advantage. He needs the heart of the truest believer and now he knows exactly how to get it. Peter/OC.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey there, guys. Been a while, huh? Well, after reading countless Peter Pan/OC fics here (because of my completely unhealthy obsession with him) I've decided to write one of my own. I hope you enjoy it.**

**Warning: The rating might go up to M in later chapters, I'm not sure yet. There will be cuss words used and violence will probably happen throughout the story. Also, depictions of the violence and wounds will be explicit, so if you get queasy, you might not want to read it. As triggers come up during the story, I will place them in a warning before the chapter. Each chapter from now on will have a warning for anything needed in that chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Peter Pan or Once Upon A Time (if I did, Peter wouldn't have had that stupid backstory they gave him in the show). **

* * *

The girl gasped for air, coughing violently. She could feel something next to her, but she was too busy coughing the entire ocean out of her lungs to actually pay attention. She struggled upright, spitting the rest of the water out of her mouth and gagging, pulling her brown hair away from her face. She took a few much needed gulps of oxygen until she wasn't shaking as terribly as she had been before. She groaned quietly and tried to push herself up straighter on shaky arms. Breathing heavily, she looked over to her side. The first thing she saw was a boy with a pink scar on his face, tangled blonde hair falling around his face. He had a hood up, covering his face with shadows.

She screamed.

The boy instantly put his hand to her mouth, scowling. "Shut up, _girl_," he snarled. "Get up," he hissed, grabbing her arm and yanking her to her feet with him, letting go of her mouth in the process.

"Let go of me!" she screeched, hitting his—rather muscular—arm as he dragged her along on her trembling feet. She struggled against him while they walked through the dense forest around them, the boy expertly maneuvering around twists and turns in the darkness. "Please," she whimpered, tears filling her green eyes. She struggled harder against the boy and eventually he grew tired with her, tossing her onto the ground in front of him. She landed on her butt and yelped, propped up on her elbows. She looked up at him fearfully, watching a sick smile twist his face and it made his scar more prominent. He lifted his club above his head and she screamed, flipping over onto her knees and trying to lift herself onto her feet. Right as she stood, scrambling to get away from him, the club came down on the back of her head, knocking her into the ground, unconscious.

* * *

The girl groaned, sounds of hushing surrounding her. She blinked her eyes open and panicked for a moment when all she saw was darkness. Then she saw the stars winking in the sky and realized it was just night time. She sighed in relief but then froze as she heard footsteps making their way toward her. She tried to sit up and dizzied herself, head throbbing. She whimpered quietly and lifted her hand to her head, feeling something dried up on the side of her head.

"I'm afraid Felix isn't the _gentlest_ person," a voice said from behind her. She jumped, heart leaping up into her throat as she turned dizzily to look at who spoke. It was a boy, maybe a year or two older than her, standing tall and radiating authority. She gulped, looking into his blue-green eyes as he smirked down at her. His brown locks fell softly across his forehead, lifting up at the very ends.

"Wh-who are you?" she squeaked, mentally slapping herself for being so vulnerable—she could barely remember anything, what if these boys had kidnapped her? She couldn't show them any weaknesses no matter how weak she truly felt. Looking at the boy's smirk, she cleared her throat and tried again. "Who are you?" she asked harsher this time, more wary.

"Why, how rude of me," he said, smile growing wider on his face, "I'm Peter. Peter Pan."

A silence fell across the camp and the girl blinked at him stupidly. "Peter Pan?" she asked. At his nod, she blinked a few more times. "Peter Pan as in the flying red-haired boy that never grows up? The Disney character?"

The boy—excuse her, _Peter Pan_—furrowed his brows at her. "I have no idea what you're talking about, but yes my name is Peter Pan."

"What, and this is Neverland?" she guessed incredulously. "And those are your Lost Boys?"

"Yes."

He was serious. This boy seriously thought he was Peter Pan. She hesitantly stood up, trying to will the pain in her limbs and head away—did that Felix guy literally drag her back here?

"Well then," she said awkwardly, the flames from the torches dancing on the boys' faces. "How did I get here, Peter Pan?"

"That's what I was just about to ask you..." he trailed off, smile disappearing. He left the sentence as a question mark and realized she hadn't told them her name.

"Tessa," she said quietly. When Peter nodded and silence fell again, she spoke. She couldn't deal with awkward, okay? "I still don't believe this whole Peter Pan thing—that's just a fairytale."

Peter raised an eyebrow—damn, how could he do it so perfectly? She was jealous—and strode toward her. Not even realizing it, Tessa started to back up a step for every one he took. He stopped suddenly and so did she.

He floated.

_He fucking floated_.

Tessa's mouth hung open as she watched him steadily fly in a circle before dropping back down onto the ground right in front of her. Startled, she took a step back, but he stopped her with a hand suddenly gripping her arm.

"Sadly," he said, though his voice indicated that he was anything but, "Girls aren't allowed on Neverland."


	2. Chapter 2

**Oh my gosh, thank you guys so much for all the lovely reviews, follows, favorites, and views! I wasn't expecting that much for only a short first chapter. I'm glad you enjoyed it.**

**One thing I'd like to point out is that I will not be using the backstory they provided him in the show. I will be making a new one for Peter as I believe he deserves a better background.**

**Also, I am planning on making this story quite long, so don't think it'll be over soon. I'm going to wring it out as much as I can.**

**Warnings: A little bit of rough-housing but nothing too serious yet.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Peter Pan or Once Upon A Time. **

* * *

Tessa could feel herself growing cold. It stemmed from where Peter had her arm in his grip, the cold spreading through her insides until she was nearly trembling with it.

"What do you mean?" she asked meekly, too afraid to even pretend to be strong.

Peter tsked, though the manic grin on his face hinted that he felt no remorse for her. She swallowed past the lump in her throat and used all of her willpower to try not to move away from him or start to shiver.

"We only have room for Lost _Boys_," Peter told her, howls of agreement coming from the other young boys surrounding them. "While we wait for my shadow," he continued, ignoring her feeble attempts to stay calm, "let's string her up, boys."

As the whooping young boys came rushing forward, Tessa blurted out the first thing that came to her mind.

"Wait!" she shouted, struggling in Pan's hold. "Why don't we play a game?" she said desperately. All the boys hesitated at this, looking to Peter for further instructions.

Peter paused, holding his free hand out to stop the Lost Boys. "A game?" he asked her, looking wary. "What kind of game?"

Tessa tried to think of something quickly, not giving Peter the chance to decide he didn't want to play a game. They were still all boys, right? What kind of game would young, immature boys want to play?

"H-how about hide and seek?" she asked, not caring that her voice was shaking. She looked up hopefully into Peter's eyes. "I hide, you guys seek."

Peter hummed, letting go of her arm slowly. She immediately pulled it away from him, not daring to move—or even breathe—as he thought.

"What do I get when I win?" he asked her, smiling at her. The smile made him look like he belonged in an institution, not wandering around freely—and certainly not controlling a hoard of young boys. She noticed how he said _when_ and not _if_ but decided to ignore his arrogance.

Tessa thought for a moment. "If I win, I don't get 'strung up' while you wait and get freedom to do whatever I want," she stated. She'd decided at the moment that she'd much rather have a small amount of freedom than be at the complete mercy of seemingly bloodthirsty boys. "If you win, you can have whatever you want," she continued, willing Peter to accept.

His smile grew until it was covering his face. Amusement danced in his eyes as he looked her over; it gave her chills, but not because he seemed to be checking her out, but because he seemed to be thinking of violent ways he could destroy her.

"Alright," he agreed, making Tessa's small frame relax slightly. "But we get to play for 24 hours. If we find you before then, we win. If we don't, you win."

Tessa's stomach churned violently, wondering how she could manage to hide from these wild boys for 24 hours. Instead of voicing her concerns—_like hell she'd do that_—she nodded hesitantly. Peter's smirk grew more sinister as the seconds ticked by and he calmly said,

"The game starts now."

Tessa didn't need to be told twice. As the Lost Boys howled their glee, jumping around as they waited for her to get a head start to hide from them, Tessa turned on her heel and bolted into the thick woods, tree branches immediately snapping against her face.

Soon, she lost sight of them, their cheers growing fainter and fainter with each step she took. She cursed her skinny jeans and then thanked whoever up there was looking out for her because she happened to be wearing her white sneakers. Though upset about how dirty they were getting, at least it was something she could run in.

After their voices had faded to nothing, Tessa slowed down, trying to hide herself in the shrubbery somehow. They'd expect her to do that though, wouldn't they? She'd never had to think about this kind of stuff before. She stopped, leaning against a tree as she greedily took in huge gulps of air into her pained lungs. Her heart was racing and her legs were turning to jelly—Tessa wasn't much of a runner. She had never had to run like this before. How could she manage to hide from these maniacs for 24 hours if she could barely even keep herself running for a few minutes? Panting, she looked for anything she could use to defend herself and eventually just grabbed a large branch, trying to keep it from dragging on the ground and making an unintentional trail.

What seemed like an hour passed by and Tessa was now walking, lost and hungry and tired. She breathed heavily, trying to suck in as much air as possible. She hoisted the branch over her shoulder and continued to make her way deeper into the forest surrounding her slowly. Her head was throbbing—mostly from lack of oxygen and way more exercise than she was used to, but probably also from the hit she'd taken from Felix.

Thinking herself safe for now, she found an unusually thick area of shrubbery and crawled into it, eyelids drooping. She sighed, laying on her back and staring at the sky—well, as much as she could see through the greenery she was underneath. She dropped her weapon on the ground beside her, closing her eyes and deciding to rest for a few seconds before making her way deeper into the forest.

Only... for a few... moments...

* * *

Hearing shrill voices whooping and footsteps pounding on the ground, Tessa woke with a start, nearly giving herself a panic attack. Calming her heart down, she blinked the sleep away from her eyes and focused on the sounds around her.

It was the Lost Boys. They were too close to her.

Panicking, Tessa scrambled to her hands and knees, crawling slowly and cautiously away from their voices. Once she was deep enough to where they couldn't see her, she sat up against a rock and waited for their voices to disappear. And surely, though slowly, they did. Sighing in relief, she crawled back to where she had fallen asleep—dammit, how long had she been out?—and grabbed the branch, getting to her feet slowly and heading the opposite way from where she'd heard the Lost Boys moving.

As she moved through the trees and grass, she heard rustling. Freezing, she looked around her warily. She thought she saw a shadow move, but after blinking it was gone. She decided that it was her mind playing tricks on her from lack of sleep. Exhaling shakily, Tessa slowly walked a few steps forward.

And then bumped right into someone.

She nearly fell over, but caught herself. Looking back in front of her, she saw a Lost Boy that was a few inches taller than her. He smiled widely and opened his mouth.

Not even thinking about it, Tessa lifted her arms and swung the branch toward him, connecting with a resounding crack on his head and the boy dropped to the ground with a grunt.

"Oh my God," Tessa whispered, dropping the branch on the ground. She herself dropped to the ground, kneeling next to the boy. She grabbed his face with shaking hands and muttered to herself while she tried to check if he was okay. After checking his skull and making sure there was no blood, she moved her finger to press against the side of his neck, feeling a pulse and relaxing. Tessa stood back up, bending over to grab her branch.

Something knocked into her back, sending her flying face-first into a nearby tree, a hand holding her by the hair and another hand twisting her arm behind her back painfully. Wincing at the pain, she tried to shift her head backwards to see who was pinning her.

Lips brushed against her ear and she shivered involuntarily. "Well, well, well," a familiar voice said. "I didn't think you had it in you." His cool breath fluttered against her ear and made her shiver again. She could feel the arrogant smile against her ear and struggled in the boy's grip.

"Peter," she hissed, yelping suddenly when he twisted her arm back further.

"Now, now, love," he whispered into her ear, pressing himself fully against her back and pushing her further into the rough bark. "I do believe I've won." He chuckled against her, shifting slightly until his body was aligned with hers. Swallowing, Tessa stilled in his arms.

Maybe if she pretended to be submissive, she'd live.

"Fine," she said, tears pricking the corners of her green eyes. Tessa tried moving her head and stopped immediately when her face was shoved harder against the tree. She could feel it breaking the skin of her cheek, blood dripping down the side of her face. Pushing down her pride, she relaxed as much as she could in his hold. "You win," she spat, not at all liking the way his grip tightened on her.

"Wonderful!" he said gleefully. "I like your fire," he whispered into her ear, pressing his lips against the skin harder. Her body tensed up, ignoring the sensations his lips caused her. Her body liked it, but she so obviously didn't. When she didn't answer, he let go of her hair and trailed his hand downward until he was digging his fingers into her thigh. Tessa reacted the way she would have if she was back home.

"Get off me!" she yelled, wiggling violently and trying to push him off of her. Peter shifted his grip until he was grabbing her upper arms, turning her quickly until they were face-to-face. He leaned toward her, leaving only a few inches between their faces. Even if she'd wanted to back away, she couldn't with the tree keeping her in place. The tree bark dug into her back through her thin t-shirt and she placed her hands on Peter's chest. A corner of his lips twitched upwards into a menacing smirk. He leaned further toward her, tilting his face so he could reach her ear. His cheek brushed against hers and she shut her eyes tightly, holding back a shiver at the feel of skin rubbing against skin. He whispered three words, his cool breath tickling her ear.

"You are mine."


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry this took me so long, guys. I had so much homework the past few days, it was ridiculous. Hopefully, I'll have more free time to write for this in the next few days while I'm on break! I make no promises, though, because I have to read Act 3 of Hamlet for my AP English class over the break. Wish me luck!**

**Hope you enjoy this chapter. I made it longer than the others since I made you wait so long.**

**Also, I want your opinion on something. I could go both ways, but I'm not sure which way you guys would prefer. Do you want:**

**A. Somewhat follows the show (Henry, Wendy, their family, etc.)**

**or**

**B. Happens before/after Henry gets taken and his plot.**

**Let me know in a review or PM (:**

* * *

Peter brought Tessa back to the camp, one hand clamped firmly around her wrist.

"Looks like we've won, boys!" he shouted to his awaiting Lost Boys, though none of them looked as if they'd expected anything less. Tessa frowned as Peter dragged her with him as they surrounded the lit fire. "How about a celebration?" he suggested, smiling evilly for the billionth time since she'd met him. This was really ruining her view of Disney Peter Pan.

The boys all cheered, grabbing sticks and masks and beginning to dance like animals in some type of ritual type dance around the fire. Peter pushed her down to sit on a log and pulled out pipes—_wow, the Pan Pipes, is he serious?_—and began blowing into them. The boys' dancing speed and ferocity increased as he blew into them. Peter looked down at her smugly as he played.

"You know," she said, mostly to herself, not even trying to speak over the voices of the boys. "It would be a lot cooler if those pipes of yours actually made sound."

Peter lowered his pipes, startled. She gave him a curious look. "You can't hear the music?" he asked. Tessa raised her eyebrows.

"How could I hear the music where there is none?" she replied. Peter raised his eyebrows—_those damn eyebrows, though._

"Interesting," he muttered.

After a few moments of silence—well, not silence, considering the Lost Boys making all that noise, but no speaking between Peter and her—Tessa got to her feet, craning her neck a few inches to look at Peter expectantly.

"Well," she started awkwardly, placing her hands on her hips. "I'm tired. Can you show me where I can go to sleep?"

Peter hummed and quietly led her to a tree with a hole in it. She raised her brows at both his eerie silence—he was looking at her strangely, okay?—and the tree.

"What? Am I supposed to sleep on the ground out here?" she asked him. Peter gave her a _'Are you seriously that stupid?'_ look and set his hand on her back, pushing her into the hole.

She fell.

And by 'fell' she didn't mean just stumble into a small area. She meant she literally fell as if she was falling down a slide in a park. She nearly started to scream, but it got lodged in her throat as she stared wide-eyed at the darkness in front of her. She faintly heard Peter step into the tree above her but she could only focus on the vast amount of black surrounding her. She couldn't even see her own limbs!

Abruptly, she hit solid ground and let out a quick "Oomph!" She shakily got to her feet, breathing shallowly as she still couldn't make out her own limbs in front of her. Then a body hit hers from behind and they both went crashing into the ground, groaning.

"You couldn't have moved after landing?" Peter muttered, his voice above hers by mere centimeters. She could barely make out a rough outline of his facial features. Tessa tried to wiggle out from under him but he only chuckled and dropped more of his weight on top of her. "I actually quite like this position," he said teasingly, rubbing against her a little bit—intentionally or not, she couldn't tell.

"Get off me, you pig," she spat, trying to twist and push him off. "It's just so dark that I couldn't see—I thought you'd plunged me to my death!"

"Come now," Peter tutted, "I'd never do that!"

"Yeah, right, asshole," she mumbled to herself. He flicked her ear and then the weight was off of her, letting her twist onto her back and breathe for a moment. A torch was lit and she could see Peter's boot beside her, looking up at him. The torch was a good few feet away from where they were.

"How'd you do that?" she asked him, in awe for a moment.

"Magic," he replied arrogantly, waving his hand. Then he smirked down at her. "You look quite interesting in that position," he continued. Tessa blushed, the heat rushing to her cheeks as she quickly stood up, brushing herself off and pushing her brown hair away from her face.

"So is this where I'm supposed to sleep?" she asked, changing the topic. She looked around the small area and was surprised to find that the place looked quite homey, with a small bed, some other furniture—how it got on Neverland in the first place she'd probably never know—and a little red rug.

"Yes," Peter said. She nodded and looked at him expectantly.

"So, can you leave?" she pressed. Peter gave her a crooked smile.

"Oh, this isn't your place," he told her. "Only Lost Boys get their own trees." She had to stop herself from pointing out how ridiculous having a tree sounded. "This is my home and I'd rather keep a close eye on you to make sure you don't escape," he continued. Tessa could just feel the pout forming on her face and had to stop it quickly.

"You're not joining the celebration up there?" she asked him. Peter shook his head, stretching his arms above him and walking around to a little closet in the corner of the tree. Or should she call it a tree? Treehouse seemed appropriate.

"The Lost Boys will already be heading off to their trees by now."

Tessa stayed silent and observed him for a few moments. Then she saw his hands move down to his belt as he toed out of his boots. Tessa's cheeks burned when he started to undo his belt, turning to face away from him before she could see any part of his body that she hadn't seen unclothed.

"Embarrassed?" he teased. Tessa didn't grace him with a response.

"I assume you're taking the bed," she said through her teeth, trying to will away the red in her cheeks.

"Of course," he replied cheerfully. "You're welcome to join me. I imagine the floor isn't very comfortable." She could hear the bed squeak and she closed her eyes, counting to ten and breathing deeply. Thankfully, when she looked back to the bed, Peter was already laying down, the blanket thrown over his body to cover majority of his bare torso. Cursing her terrible luck—_seriously, what kind of twisted thing did she do to deserve this?_—she slowly made her way to the bed and sat on the very edge.

"Don't worry," she heard Peter whisper behind her. "I won't do anything ungentlemanly to you." She could just hear his wicked smirk as he spoke to her. Deciding to just trust his word, she slowly laid down beside him on her back, staring up at the top of the home. It was so strange how it was inside of a tree yet underneath it, but she decided Peter had probably done it with his magic.

A few hours passed and Tessa was still squirming uncomfortable on the bed, unable to fall asleep. Peter was passed out next to her, one leg dangling off the side of the bed and both hands resting behind his head. She took a minute to appreciate how much he looked like the Disney version of him—if the bed had been a hammock instead it would have been the perfect image.

It wasn't the awkward situation of sleeping beside a dark Peter Pan or the fact that they'd nearly killed her or even the fact that her life was probably in imminent danger that kept sleep just out of her reach.

It was the fact that she was wearing jeans.

She didn't trust people who could fall asleep in jeans.

Cautiously, Tessa looked over her shoulder at Peter. He was breathing evenly and looked to be in a deep enough sleep that he wouldn't be waking up soon. She prayed that he wasn't a light sleeper. Slowly, she sat up, moving her legs off of the bed. She got up carefully, wincing when the bed creaked a little bit. Looking at Peter to make sure he wouldn't wake up, she walked over to the closet. She opened it, grabbing a pair of his soft to the touch pants—_how was it that his pants were so tight but so soft?_—and setting them down. Looking behind her again, she made sure that Peter was still asleep—which he was, _thank God_—and she quickly unbuttoned her skinny jeans, prying them off of her legs and throwing them into the closet, closing the two wooden doors slowly. She quickly pulled on the pair of dark pants and sighed in relief that her legs could finally breathe. She went over to the dresser, pulling open drawers quietly and slowly, looking for some kind of weapon.

Eventually, she found a small dagger—holding back a snort when she realized Disney did get a few things right—and she grabbed Peter's discarded belt, wrapping it around her hips and sliding the dagger into it.

A sound came from the bed and she froze, looking back at Peter. He was shifting on the bed a little and Tessa held her breath as he moved. She crept over to the opening of the tree and watched Peter the whole time to make sure he didn't wake up. Someone up there must have decided to give her a chance for Peter stayed asleep. She sighed quietly and began looking for some way out of the treehouse. She kept her hands on the walls of the little home and looked up at the tunnel opening of it. Swallowing, she set herself a limit—if she didn't find some other way out in the next minute, she'd try climbing up the tunnel.

When her efforts to find some stairs proved fruitless, she swore in her head and took a deep breath, glancing back at the sleeping Peter Pan. She carefully put her foot on the side, grabbing the rocky insides with her hands and wincing when the jagged edges cut into her palms. She breathed in deeply and dragged herself up, wishing she'd actually practiced rock climbing at school and camps. When she was crouching in the very entrance, she moved her foot up to higher stable-looking area and pushed herself up, frantically grabbing another handhold. Tessa swallowed and continued climbing up, trying to ignore the stinging in her wet palms.

Once she'd lost all hope of making it to the top, she could just make out the opening. Excited, she willed herself to move faster, climbing up and eventually she slung her arm over the opening of the hole, trying to pull herself up. When she got both arms on the outside, she tried to swing herself up and nearly plummeted to her death. She thrashed her legs around and tried to balance herself, grabbing at the outside of the tree. After regaining her footing on the rocks, she set her forearm on the hole and pushed on it, biting her lip to stop herself from crying out in pain as the rough tree bark dug into her forearm, splitting her lip in the process. She finally got the upper half of her body out of the tree and then just put as much of her weight as she could on the top part of her body, swinging out and nearly knocking herself out when she fell.

She pushed herself off the ground on shaking legs and bleeding arms. Not even thinking about the pain, she took off running in a random direction into the forest when she saw no Lost Boys out and about. She tried to keep her bloody hands and arm from dripping any blood anywhere so as to not leave a trail for them to follow. Once she deemed herself far enough away from the campsite, she collapsed onto her knees painfully, wincing and twisting to sit on her ass. She took a few deep breaths and pulled her shirt up, clamping her teeth on the edge and pulling on it until it ripped. Shakily, she let go and wrapped the thin fabric multiple times around one hand, using her teeth and other wounded hand to tie it tightly to stop the blood. She repeated the process two more times until her other wounds were bandaged. She sucked her bottom lip into her mouth, licking away the coppery blood flooding out of the split. She rose to her feet and looked down at her ruined shirt. She should have grabbed one of Peter's jackets as well.

Before she could take a step forward, she heard a twig snap behind her. Spinning around, she came face-to-face with an arrow pointed at her.

"Where are you going?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Guys, I apologize for keeping you waiting so long! I actually had most of this finished over my break but then family stuff happened so I didn't get a chance to finish it up until now. Hopefully the next chapter won't be such a long wait! Enjoy the chapter (:**

* * *

Tessa swallowed past the lump in her throat, straining to keep her eyes on the boy in front of her instead of his weapon—_don't let him see you afraid, Tess_, she told herself.

"Hey," she said weakly, her heart beating a mile a second. He narrowed his eyes at her. "What's your name?" she continued when he didn't answer her. The Lost Boy took a step toward her, bow and arrow still poised to fire at her if she made any sudden movements. She let her eyes dart down quickly to the tip of the arrow before she was looking back into the young boy's eyes.

"Where are you going?" the boy repeated.

Tessa tried to smile unthreateningly at him. "Oh, I just had to pee," she told him. He narrowed his eyes at her. The boy took a few more steps toward her until Tessa had to tip her chin up when the arrowhead was nearly pressed against her throat. "I'm a girl, you know," she continued. "I can't exactly just go wherever I please like you boys. I need privacy." When she received more silence, she put her hands up in surrender. "Look, kid," she said, slumping her shoulders forward. "You can take me back to Pan yourself. I'll go willingly considering the only reason I left was to relieve my bladder."

A few beats of uncomfortable silence and tension passed between them. The boy eventually lowered his weapon, stringing the boy across his shoulder and putting the arrow away. She lowered her arms to her sides as he cautiously approached her, waiting until he almost had his hand on her arm. As fast as she could, she gripped the hilt of the dagger she'd hidden, ripping it out of the belt and twisting her body away from his frantic grabbing, grabbing his arm and twisting it behind him as she placed herself behind the boy, pressing the side of the weapon against his neck.

"You have two options," she whispered into the boy's ear. When he tensed up, she pressed the dagger a little harder on his skin. "Either you let me go willingly or I slit your neck."

He scoffed. "Yeah right," he strained, trying not to slit his own neck on her weapon. "Girls don't have the guts to do something like killing."

Ignoring the irritation that flared up inside of her at being spoken to like that, Tessa quietly moved her foot back to a branch she'd seen lying on the ground. She put the tip of her sneaker behind it and dragged it slowly closer to herself.

"Tick tock," she said as she bought herself a little more time. "Which option are you going to choose?" she asked him. She could hear the smile in his voice when he answered her.

"Neither," he whispered, grabbing her arm and pushing it away from his neck. She ducked down, grabbing the branch in her hands and dropping the dagger. As he turned around to face her, Tessa brought the branch up, connecting it with the side of his head as she had with the Lost Boy who'd tried to catch her before Peter had. A crunch sounded and Tessa winced as he dropped to the hard ground like a rag doll. She bent down and made sure he was breathing, feeling nothing more than a small bump forming on the side of his head. She set the branch down beside him and grabbed Peter's dagger, sheathing it back in his belt as she started to jog away from the Lost Boy—obviously deciding to not take her chances on if he'd stay down or get up soon.

For the next half hour, all she'd seen was forest. Sure that she was just running in circles around the camp, she groaned in frustration. Her head was throbbing—no doubt from blood loss—and the rest of her body ached. She desperately needed a drink. Deciding to walk for a bit, she slowed her pace and nearly collapsed next to a large tree. Panting, she dropped to her knees onto the ground. She laid down on the ground while she tried to catch her breath. She could tell that her left palm was still bleeding, she must have scraped it pretty deep. Her head was woozy and she was starting to see dots at the edges of her vision. She held back a cry as she shakily unwrapped the makeshift bandage on her left hand, gagging at the sight of her palm caked in blood. It looked almost black with the amount that was dripping out of it.

Then she heard it.

Footsteps.

Tessa jumped to her feet, blood rushing in her ears as she tried to steady herself. She pulled out her dagger, holding it up toward the sound.

Then a girl came walking out, freezing when she saw her. The girl looked a lot older than her or anyone else she'd seen on Neverland. Her blonde hair was pulled up messily into a bun atop her head, the rest of her dirty and looking not so great.

She could only imagine how terrible she looked.

The girl gave her a once over quickly before looking at her warily. "Who are you?" she asked her. Tessa swayed on her feet, trying to keep the dagger pointed at the woman. She mumbled something incoherent and fell forward, dropping her dagger as she went. She would have planted face-first into the ground if the blonde lady hadn't rushed forward and caught her. "Alright," she said, letting out a grunt as she pulled Tessa to her shaking feet. "Let's get you fixed up." The woman slung one of her arms around her shoulders and wrapped her own arm around her waist, half-dragging and half-carrying her the way she had been walking before they'd seen each other.

About halfway through their walk, Tessa gave in to the darkness pulling at her mind.

Tessa woke up with a start, pushing at the hands pressing against her arm.

"Easy there," a soothing voice said beside her. She blinked the sleep away from her eyes and let them adjust to her environment. She saw the blonde woman who'd grabbed her and led her away from the forest. After looking around herself, she realized they must be in some type of hut or cabin. "Your left palm was bleeding pretty bad, but I cleaned and wrapped up your wounds so they wouldn't get infected," she continued. "They should heal properly now."

"Who are you?" Tessa asked groggily, pushing herself into a sitting position and wincing at the sting in her palms.

"I'm Tinkerbell," she replied. "What's your name?"

"I'm Tessa," she said, looking around the hut. "Are you friends with Peter Pan?" she asked her warily, unsure if Disney had gotten this part correct. Tinkerbell's face hardened and she looked back at Tessa as if she was ready to bolt or stab her.

"No," she said carefully. "Are you?"

"No," Tessa breathed, relief flooding through her. Tinkerbell nodded and a silence fell over them. "Oh, thanks for, um, binding my wounds," she told her. Tinkerbell smiled at her, helping her stand.

"It was no problem," the woman told her. "You had quite the cuts. How did that happen?"

"I was getting away from Pan," Tessa replied, fixing her belt—well, Peter's belt. She didn't notice the way Tinkerbell's body stiffened up. She looked around and then grabbed at her ruined shirt. "Hey, do you by chance have a spare shir—" she cut herself off when she raised her eyes to Tinkerbell's seeing her tense form and closed off expression.

"You need to leave," she told her. Tessa blinked and furrowed her brows at her.

"What?" she asked incredulously. "I can't go back there, Tinkerbell, not after all that work to get away from him—"

"I'm sorry, truly I am, but if Pan wants you then I can't help you any more than I already have." Tinkerbell grabbed her arm, pulling her to the entrance of the home. "I'm sorry," she said as she pushed Tessa out of the hut. Tessa stumbled out, tears of frustration building in her eyes. She glanced back at the closed door, forcing her tired legs to move forward. She walked back into the forest, swallowing and holding back her tears. Once she'd made it far enough that she couldn't tell which way was which anymore, she dropped down onto the ground and brought her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them and placing her forehead on her knees. She took a few deep breaths, trying to relax herself until she could actually think of a way off the island.

"Oh, don't cry," a voice said mockingly from behind her. All of Tessa's frustration turned to anger, boiling under her skin. She snapped her head up, turning to look at Peter as he smirked at her, leaning on a tree. Despite his smirk, his eyes were glaring holes into her with his barely contained rage. Tessa got onto her feet, very nearly growling at him.

"You," she spat. "This is all your fault! Why am I on this goddamn island?" she screeched at him. Peter's smirk disappeared and in a mere blink he was merely inches from her face. Tessa held back her gasp and looked up into his eyes. She saw his hand move and hers went to the belt around her hips. Her face must have shown her surprise at not finding the dagger she'd had earlier. Peter leaned forward another few inches, voice quiet and deadly.

"Lost something?" he asked, his smirk growing. Not seeing any other options, Tessa turned on her heel and bolted.

Or, at least, she tried to.

Peter's hand was around her upper arm, dragging her back to him. His face betrayed how enraged he felt, a snarl on his lips as his fingers dug into her skin. Tessa opened her mouth and started screaming, forming a few phrases as she screeched—_"Let me go! Let go of me!"_

When Peter's grip remained on her arm, not budging even a little, she let her knees buckle and tried to drag herself onto the ground and away from him. Peter let out a sharp laugh, crouching a few inches and wrapping his free arm around her to grip her waist.

"You aren't getting away that easily," he said, pressing his face against her hair as she struggled in his grip.

"Let go of me!" she screeched, trying to yank herself away. He gripped her tighter, pulling her back flush against him. She could feel them begin to slowly float off of the ground. She screamed, grabbing onto the arm holding her up against him.

"Never," he growled angrily, flying higher.


End file.
